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Tesla Motors wasn't planning to attend an auto show this year. We had a simple marketing plan: viral marketing, public relations, and a great website. But a sequence of extraordinary events changed everything.

It started with an exclusive article in Wired Magazine's August issue. And it continued with our launch event at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise visit. Then there was the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, one of the premier gatherings of auto enthusiasts in the world, and the first public showcase of the Tesla Roadster. These events started a media feeding frenzy. Suddenly we were reading articles from newspapers, magazines, weblogs and newsfeeds, television news shows, radio talk shows, and more. (You can see many of these reports at our media page.)

A quiet moment for the Tesla Roadster
before the start of the SF Auto Show

As a result of our newfound fame, we were invited to display the Tesla Roadster at the San Francisco Auto Show and the Los Angeles Auto Show. We had initially thought that auto shows would be too expensive for us. But thanks to all the enthusiasm surrounding the Tesla Roadster, we were invited to exhibit at both shows with deals that were irresistible. That fit in perfectly with our marketing budget!

The San Francisco Auto Show, held on November 18-26, was our first auto show. The organizers made it very easy for us to accept their offer to exhibit by giving us a prime spot at the base of the escalators right at the entryway to the show. We set up a turntable display for the car, put in some informational displays about the ESS and motor, and set up a video loop to show the car driving at Pebble Beach. Take a look at this YouTube video showing the car on the turntable.

The Los Angeles Auto Show (December 1-10) is a little larger, with more than 1 million attendees. This is the first year that the show started in December (it was previously held in January and overlapped with the Detroit Auto Show). This year is also the show's 100th anniversary.

We started off the week on Monday, November 27, with an event at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina Del Rey. It was billed as a customer ride event – a chance for those who have reserved a Tesla Roadster to get a ride. We ended up hosting Dan Neil, the Pulitzer Prize winning auto journalist for the L.A. Times, who wrote another great article on the Tesla Roadster. (Registration is required to view the article.) Also at our customer ride event was Lynchpin Productions, which is shooting an episode for the Sundance Channel Green Series to be aired in April 2007. They were able to interview several of our prominent customers including Chris Paine, who wrote and directed Who Killed the Electric Car. Watch for this interesting series on the Sundance Channel.

We take questions
at the LA Auto Show

On Tuesday it was over to the Los Angeles Convention Center to place the Tesla Roadster on the show floor. Our marketing partner, Yokohama Tire, generously offered to host our car in their booth. Since they are a major sponsor of the show, they have a booth right in front. Everyone entering the show has to walk by our booth.

It was the perfect spot, and as the press wandered around during the two media days we certainly received our share of attention. There were periods when reporters, TV cameras, and photojournalists were lined up three deep to talk to us. Very heady stuff.

On Wednesday morning the keynote address was given by General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner. We had heard that he would announce something about electric cars so we made a point of being there. As it turned out he said a lot of stuff that resonates with our own philosophies:

Electric drive is the future of the automobile industry.

Diversity of fuel sources is important to the environment as well as the reduction of dependency on foreign oil.

Electric cars offer “upstream energy diversity” since electricity can be manufactured from many different fuel sources.

Mr. Wagoner also announced that GM would introduce a plug-in hybrid in 2008. His speech ended up driving many reporters to our booth for more information. Our response to GM: Welcome back!

Gov. Schwarzenegger with
Martin at the press conference

On Thursday Gov. Schwarzenegger held a press conference to discuss his environmental policies and showcase some of the car companies that were considered good examples, including Tesla Motors.

After a couple of false starts, we finally convinced our Yokohama hosts and the L.A. Convention Center staff that it would be a good thing to move our car from the booth to the press conference site. So at 9am on Thursday morning we were lined up behind Gov. Schwarzenegger along with cars from Daimler-Chysler (BluTech Diesel E320), BMW (Hydrogen 7), GM (FlexFuel Tahoe), and Honda (FCX Fuel Cell car). These are some mighty big companies compared to little Tesla Motors, but we certainly held our own.

Plastic on the tires protects
the carpet as Mike inches
the car back to the show floor

Our CEO, Martin Eberhard, had 30 seconds to speak. Then the Governor spent a few minutes with each company. The video cameras rolled and the strobes flashed. Later Matt Nauman of the San Jose Mercury News told me it was ironic that Tesla Motors - the smallest, newest company in the group - had the product that was closest in both availability and concept to solving our country's environmental and oil dependency problems.

Once the press conference was over we moved the car back into the Yokohama booth. I’m sure that the people wandering the halls of the L.A. Convention Center thought it was pretty strange to see an exotic looking sports car rolling quietly down the carpeted hallway under its own power.

The Los Angeles Auto Show will continue until December 10. If you have the time and live in the Los Angeles area, be sure to drop by the Yokohama booth. We have our red Tesla Roadster there, and we would love for you to have a look at it and talk to the Tesla Motors employees who are staffing the booth. You can't miss us - we're the ones wearing the bright red shirts.

"Later Matt Nauman of the San Jose Mercury News told me it was ironic that Tesla Motors - the smallest, newest company in the group - had the product that was closest in both availability and concept to solving our country’s environmental and oil dependency problems."

Right. On. Matt.

Great job guys. Of course, I now expect to see you at the Chicago Auto Show!

Dan
Proud RAV4EV driver

Paul

3:11pm | Dec 6, 2006

Brilliant! Continue with this excellent blog!

Paul

ross

3:35pm | Dec 6, 2006

"Later Matt Nauman of the San Jose Mercury News told me it was ironic that Tesla Motors - the smallest, newest company in the group - had the product that was closest in both availability and concept to solving our country’s environmental and oil dependency problems."

It is a bit sad, isn't it? But think of it this way: Had the majors not dragged their feet and done electric cars the right way the first time, the opportunity for you to create Tesla Motors would not have presented itself in the first place! I hope you guys, along with other up-and-coming electric car makers are able to take a large bite out of all the major car companies' sales. I know it most likely won't happen for at least 5 years (10, more conservatively) but I would really like to see them suffer for their short-sightedness, and you rewarded for your brilliance. And hey, 10 years is WAY better than they're promising for this hypothetical -- dare I say, "mythical?" -- hydrogen economy.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way. GM, D/C, Ford, et al had a golden opportunity to lead. They passed it up. Now, they'll have to follow. If they're too stubborn to do that, I will be happy when they're gone and out of the way of those who care about more than next quarter's profits. I'm sure their employees will be able to find jobs at more respectable and forwad-looking companies.

Lead the way, Tesla!

Rich

3:51pm | Dec 6, 2006

Great Blog... I was at teh SF car show and I think I may have met you there Mike. It was really cool to see the car up there and also the other tech bits... for me the charging unit was the coolest... I was surprised how heavy it was, very solidly built. The only bummer was that we couldn't sit in the car.. hopefully when the production versions are out we can get a chance to sit in a roadster and pretend we own one :)

Brent

3:59pm | Dec 6, 2006

I am not a "car person," but I visited the L.A. auto show to see the Tesla. The display is small, but it sure attracted a fair number of people while I was there. And the car is just beautiful.

One question: we have recharge stations here and there around L.A. They're left over from the ZEV-initiative days. The paddle on those stations and the plug on your car are quite different. Any plans for an adapter?

bob

4:11pm | Dec 6, 2006

i'm really excited about telsa motors. but, when are you going to produce a car i can afford :o(

The highlight of the LA Auto show for me was meeting Howard Dunholter, whom I believe is our oldest customer at 95. He wanted to impress upon me a certain urgency for delivery! Howard was an EV-1 driver until they took his car away. Needless to say, Wagoner's speech about future electric cars from GM left him rather unimpressed.

We were also very impressed by the number of kids who knew all about Tesla Motors and were dragging their parents to see the Tesla Roadster. Gives me hope for our future generations.

Andrew

4:16pm | Dec 6, 2006

This is great news.

I was looking into buying one. But I'm against leather so is there any chance of any cool recycled content fabrics that could be used (i.e. sensuede, which has 54% recycled content[http://www.sensuede.com/sensuede/p_sensuede.html])?

Plus, where are these batteries that are part of the power plant available commercially. I'd love to get some of this stuff. I'm working on a durable portable power generator. I'd love to use what you guys trust.

Thanks for all your awesome work. Hopefully I'll find videos of this great vehicle.

Sincerely,

---

Editor's comment: We're been thinking about offering a non-leather option but I don't have a final answer for you yet.

Joshua Mize

4:37pm | Dec 6, 2006

The reporter is correct, this technology is the answer to our energy crisis. This is why I am so glad to read you are in the process of considering licensing agreements for your innovative battery technology. This is great, the more companies manufacturing electric cars the better.....I do question though if any of them will be able to produce the same amazing product you guys have designed. If their cars are not up to snuff, they will only serve to reinforce poor stereotypes of electric cars. If they are all as great as the Roadster though, we really may stand a chance at staving off global warming and securing real energy security.

Brian

4:38pm | Dec 6, 2006

Very exciting! Unfortunately, given your hesitation to sign up for a show in your backyard, it doesn't sound like you'll be trucking out to the NY auto show in the spring. Guess I'll have to settle for pictures and blogs.

It gives me chills just hearing about your successes. Keep up the awesome work!

I would die to see the roadster first hand. Any plans for the NY Auto Show?

---

Editor's response: We probably won't be at the NY Auto Show in 2007. But check out our events page for updates on planned appearances.

Iz

5:12pm | Dec 6, 2006

Thanks for the blog update Mike.

I would not quite compare Tesla to Cinderella at the ball; however there are parallel's when the Roadster is showcased at the press conference with those "mighty big companies".

Can you provide any feedback received from other car companies with regard to the Roadster and Tesla’s future strategies?

Doug @ Stanford

5:20pm | Dec 6, 2006

Again, great stuff! There seems to be another Doug around so I changed my handle to avoid confusion. I had asked a couple brief questions shortly after the last blog (http://www.teslamotors.com/blog1/?p=39, "Doug wrote on November 30th, 2006 at 11:15 pm"), but for some reason they sat in “awaiting moderation” limbo for almost a week. I post them again here so that maybe some of the more informed commentators can share some insight. Thanks! :)
---------------------
Could you guys talk a bit about the transmission? I heard that the one you’re using in the prototypes is giving you problems and you’ve decided to make a change. (In fact in a Today show test drive vid it broke! video.msn.com ) Any details about that? Will this change cause any delay to the projected delivery date of the first consumer vehicles?

Are the brakes standard vacuum assisted hydraulic brakes (i.e. including a master cylinder and brake lines with DOT4 fluid or whatever)? Do you then have an electrical vacuum pump running under the hood, since there’s no engine vacuum in this case? Out of curiosity, I had asked one of the Tesla people this question at an EV car show at Palo Alto High School a while back, but she didn’t seem to know how brakes worked in a normal car. Not her fault, though, I think she was more involved with the motor or something.

Doug @ Stanford

5:34pm | Dec 6, 2006

I'd like to add to Brent's question. The inductive paddle interface on those chargers were designed to be safe in the rain. Given the smoke and water interlocks on the Tesla charging system, it doesn't sound like you can charge it outside. I.e. you have to have a garage, a driveway isn't enough. Is this the case?

Paul Cook-Giles

5:45pm | Dec 6, 2006

Brilliant-- I've been following news about your company since I read about it in Morford, and have discussed it on several email lists. I don't expect to be able to buy a $100K sports car any time soon (and at 6'4" don't expect to ever fit in one), but I'd be very interested in buying some stock; are you going to be going public?

---

Editor's response: We appreciate your interest. Tesla Motors is a privately held company and so we can't provide either current or forward looking financial information.

Glad you all are having a good time at the show. The bad thing about trade shows is that they involve a lot of standing around and are hard on the feet. But the BEST thing about them is that you get to meet so many excited customers and would-be customers. That excitement helps you forget your "dogs," at least until you get back to the hotel room!

Regarding the Roadster maneuvering on the show floor under its own power: you may have missed an opportunity to give people rides around the floor. Yours is the only "booth" that can go TO and WITH the customers! Perhaps such an approach will be more practical when you take the WhiteStar to shows.

Roger L.

7:56pm | Dec 6, 2006

Here and in previous posts on this blog there are those who obviously enjoy dissing Big Auto, especially with Tesla's progress thus far (so that's a no brainer). I have no connection with any of Big Auto players but I'm a little tired of the arrogance, immaturity, hatred and revenge seeking of those who engage in this behavior. What they fail to recognize, first, is that Big Auto companies are answerable to their shareholders for their mistakes. That's a big deal! (Remember the Edsel? Corvair? etc.) Tesla is a privately held venture answerable only to themselves - those who have anted in recognize it's a risky "roll of the dice" and they could lose it all. They'd still have their "day jobs", of course.
Secondly, remember that entrepeneurs, if they can make their idea fly, invariably sell out, at a nice profit of course, to someone with deeper pockets; it's their nature. It's reality. Could be that someone in Big Auto finally wakes up and smells the coffee and absorbs Tesla . Could happen. Then what? Those who diss Big Auto now might have to eat crow later. Remember, this ballgame has barely begun. The laws of physics are free to everyone and Tesla does not have the corner on all the smart people in the world. Gasp!! BA might just be waiting to see what happens, then make their move.
The right time to buy Tesla is after they've ironed out the bugs and proven that there is a sustainable/profitable market, i.e., taken most of the risk. We don't know what Tesla's selling price might be. Whatever is, Big Auto could probably afford it. Save your crowing for later, say, 8 -10 years down the road. Meanwhile, hold your breath and pray that when these vehicles hit the road in quantity and the REAL (make that, unknown) bugs show up, as they invariably will, Tesla is able to retain the public confidence in EVs that they've begun. I know I'm holding my breath and staying sober.

T.J.

8:08pm | Dec 6, 2006

I'm going to L.A. auto show Dec.10. Paul can fit in a Tesla-I sat in Lotus Elise at show last year, it was good for me (also 6-"4" )-seat could have leaned back more, that's all-that's what you need if your'e tall (partly because you can stretch out arms more).If Tesla has improved this over Lotus,that would be a good move. Getting out of Lotus was great!! (exercise that is)-Tesla sez they've corrected this. Good thing about Lotus & Tesla is that there is no big transmission tunnel between the seats. Cars like the Miata and Solstice are terrible re. this -if you're tall you need side legroom too. Martin talking about future generations: I hope everything green becomes THE big agenda in this country.We should be a lean,mean efficient country leading the world in this. It's the next frontier, on this planet. IF we were really smart we'd be in the forefront,on all fronts.

Don Larson

8:23pm | Dec 6, 2006

The tail is wagging the dog! Big auto had an agenda that Tesla appears to have turned inside out. Flex fuel, hydrogen fuel and incremental CAFE standard wars will become moot if Tesla and others can only find ways to produce electric vehicles in volume. Thanks for the continuiing excellent blog.

Malcolm Wilson

3:19am | Dec 7, 2006

Thank you for an excellent article Mike.

Some thoughts about viral marketing. How about a series of short videos which focus on the consequences of key components of the ICE; clutches for example. There are some interesting estimates of gas use by cars idling in traffic. Just type "Idling" into Google.

"Stop idling; start driving...Tesla Motors"

Does this idea win me a Tesla Coffee Mug? :)

Jacques

5:15am | Dec 7, 2006

"WOW" would be an under-statement of the sheer pleasure and excitement this new car gives many people, even before its in their garages.

I have my two cents though... but I would love to speak to the owner of the company or someone involved in the technology process as I have the best idea for your new car regarding fuel-cells and all that.

I have one question though..... why not use water ?

Liz

5:53am | Dec 7, 2006

I would love to see the Tesla at the UK motor shows and even better to see it silently gliding along the road outside my house in Leeds England.

What TM is doing is quite remarkable and virtuous, but the overall impact will be overshadowed and the environmental gains will be nullified due to the limited reach of a 100k sports car... but what if that reach went beyond mass production (which will be difficult with competition such as GM and Toyota), to mass replacement. Could the core of the roadster be implemented in a drop-in 'pod' that fit, say a Honda Civic or Corolla (4 second 0-60 NOT a requirement)? If an inexpensive assembly could be developed (which I doubt would be a daunting task for TM) and made available to the masses, then the environmental impact could be extreme and the benefits global... rather than localized to San Francisco.

Ken

9:01am | Dec 7, 2006

I applaud all the work that Tesla Motors have done to date on what is sure to be the future of automobiles. Unfortunately many of us are only going to be able to sit on the sidelines ( or attend car shows) and dream about the day an auto such as this will be available to the "ordinary" person. I know Tesla has a long-range plan to engineer and sell lower-end electrics for the masses. Until then. I will continue to drive my Prius and hope for a commercially availble upgrade or PHEV that I can afford. Best of luck to Telsa Motors, if nothing else you will drive the "Big 3" to do what they could and should have been doing all along.

ross

9:13am | Dec 7, 2006

Roger L:

We are simply displaying our disgust at their unwillingness to go through with the BEV projects. They sued their way out of them, rather than embracing the opportunity to be the world leader in EV's that people really wanted. You say they have to answer to their shareholders; if that's all they had to answer to, 10%+ of new car sales right now would be EVs. There's a huge untapped market potential and they chose to try to squash the market rather than fill it. Tesla's trying to fill it. Chacnes are, BA will follow the lead and if they are smart they'll either acquire Tesla or drive them out of business.

As for your second point: I have no problem with big companies. Flounder, I work for one. Big companies are what make the global economy possible. What I have a problem with is the companies who trout on their employees and customers and instead push their own agenda. BA has tried to decide what people want, rather than letting people decide what they want and giving it to them. I know that Ford and others started as small entrepreneurial businesses and grew to how they are today because they were smart. But now they've stagnated, and it's time for them to either wake up or be replaced.

I hope in 60 years we aren't talking about how Tesla was a great company but has started to stagnate, but I recognize the possibility. I'm just ready for the tide to change.

Doug @ Stanford

10:36am | Dec 7, 2006

Malcolm Wilson wrote:
Some thoughts about viral marketing... There are some interesting estimates of gas use by cars idling in traffic. Just type “Idling” into Google.
“Stop idling; start driving…Tesla Motors”
Does this idea win me a Tesla Coffee Mug?
-----------
Malcolm, the "idling" isn't a good slogan for Tesla since the Prius already doesn't idle (it's ICE turns off at a stop). Maybe shop it to Toyota? But the "Tesla Coffee Mug" is a great idea, or even better a T-shirt or a subtle cap. I'd buy that and it would be free advertising.

I took my 2 year old and my parents who were in from Penn. to the SF auto show the Saturday after Thanskgiving just so they could see Tesla. I think we all want one now.

We toured the entire floor and there was such a striking difference between seeing Tesla and the big Hummers jacked up and on display (which of course my son loved as well!) and then the Zap EVs, which looked like toys with all due respect.

It certainly seems like there's a perfect storm brewing to ignite a revolution...

david_42

11:07am | Dec 7, 2006

Really enjoyed the short video. So many of the Roadster pictures are too dark to see much detail.

As far as the comments about the "Big 3" , their stockholders and their willingness to respond to customers, I don't think their attitudes have changed in generations. To quote Mr. Ford from a time when he was the company, "You can have any color, so long as it's black."

Jon Mittelhauser

12:26pm | Dec 7, 2006

RogerL,

You said "Secondly, remember that entrepeneurs, if they can make their idea fly, invariably sell out, at a nice profit of course, to someone with deeper pockets; it’s their nature."

While I agree that this is one potential exit strategy for a start-up, it is usually not the preferred one. Last I checked, Bill Gates hasn't sold out to anyone. Ever hear of Intel, HP, Apple Computer, etc? Or more recently Google, Yahoo...

They were all entrepenural startups at one point. Now they are buying the companies (or helping to fund companies like Tesla!). I'm sure Tesla would rather go public and get huge then sell out. If for no other reason than it makes them more money. :)

-Jon

Neil

1:14pm | Dec 7, 2006

Ken: Hymotion is comming out with a kit for upgrading Prius' to PHEVs while we all wait for an affordable family car from Tesla.

After reading that Tesla is thinking of moving out of California, I can't help but wonder if Martin has talked to Arnold about this personally at the various events.
I am presuming of course that they want to stay.

e

I also noted that Arnold says he "drove one" but did not say he "bought one".

Joshua Mize

4:53pm | Dec 7, 2006

I'd like to hear more about the Tesla centers that are going to be opening in cities around the country. How will they be different from the run of the mill car dealership? As Tesla looks to go mass market, are they considering bringing in any financial institution to offer financing? What will Tesla's sales model and "dealership" network look like when it is up and running? Thanks again.

# I’m sure Tesla would rather go public and get huge then sell out.
# If for no other reason than it makes them more money.

Going public is a minefield, and some would say a devil's deal. Founding and pre-IPO stockholders can definitely rake in the cash. On the other hand, the various regulations, to which "public companies" are subject, can cost dearly. Sarbanes-Oxley, for instance, is one of the most onerous burdens that corporations have ever had to bear, wasting huge amounts of resources in compliance. If your stock can rise from $85 to $513, as Google's did in the space of a couple of years, maybe the trouble is worth it. But otherwise, selling out to a large public firm while still a private company may be the best "cash out" strategy.

If, on the other hand, you actually LIKE making the products, building an industry, and running the company, then it is probably best to stay private as long as possible. That way, you get the most control, and you have the fewest restrictions on corporate behavior.

T.J.

9:20pm | Dec 7, 2006

If Tesla is going to build their future Offwhitestar family sedan plant as an addition to their Whitestar sports sedan plant, in a location near somewhere significant, they should consider getting enough "off the grid" cheap land (on the sly- so nobody knows it's them, of course) to eventually build a totally, 100% green new town (complete w/ solar-driven Starbucks) as a warning to the rest of the industrialized world. Town name du jour: Green Acres.

Andrew Jenkins

9:42pm | Dec 7, 2006

Please remove leather seats from this vehicle. Come on guys, if you want to be green-friendly you have to ditch the leather too!

I will definately be buying one of these after this option is taken care of (in 2008 that is).

Robert

10:56pm | Dec 7, 2006

Are you guys going to be in New York city April 6?
Hope to see you out on the east coast some time soon.
Keep up the great work!

T.J.

11:00pm | Dec 7, 2006

vfx: Good Arnie question! George Clooney must have a talk with him , alright- the least Arnie could do is have AC Propulsion covert his Hummers- the results would be electrifying! But I would be shocked if it happened.

Dr. H. Van Den Houten

5:59am | Dec 8, 2006

Editor’s response: We probably won’t be at the NY Auto Show in 2007. But check out our events page for updates on planned appearances.

You will me greatly missed by many at the New York show. I guess we have to wait till you start selling in the New York area.

# If Tesla is going to build their future Offwhitestar family sedan plant as
# an addition to their Whitestar sports sedan plant, in a location near
# somewhere significant, they should consider getting enough “off the grid”
# cheap land

If they relocate to Nevada or Arizona, it would be interesting to see whether they could structure the deal, so as to acquire a tract of desert that were large enough to produce enough solar power to run the vehicles they sold, up to some limit. As a customer, you could have the option to do the solar thing on your own rooftop, or buy shares in the big Tesla solar farm. In the latter case, you could get a kWh credit on your own electric bill. This would be something that condo/apartment dwellers could do, opening up a larger market for the "solar option."

I like the "company town" idea, too. It reminds me of Disney's original EPCOT concept, and harkens back to the old days of Ford, who, many people forget, was quite the social engineer, too -- paying his people well, building dormitories and even establishing company towns for them, etc.

Freddy

1:46pm | Dec 8, 2006

Here is an idea: People who are still reluctant to jump in the electric vehicle idea use the excuse that it takes fossil fuels to generate the electricity that will charge the batteries of the electric car. It turns out GE makes a 3.6 MW wind turbine that sells for about $ 3,600,000. Due to the wind turbine being able to produce an average of only 30% of the rated power (this is called loading factor), this particular turbine averages 1.08 MW. The amount of electric energy a year generated by this turbine is:

1080 KW * 365 days * 24 hr/day = 9,460,800 KW * hr

As you know 1 KW*hr can propel the Tesla roadster for 5 miles, therefore enough electrical energy is produced to travel :

9,460,800 KW*hr * (5 miles/KW*hr) = 47,304,000 miles

Assume the average car travels 15,000 miles a year and you get that one 3.6 MW wind turbine generates enough electricity to fuel 3154 electric Tesla roadsters.

If you assume a national average mpg of 22 miles per gallon, thenwe can save :

47,304,000 miles / (22 miles/gallon) = 2,150,182 gallons of fuel.

At $2.25/gal = $4,837,909 per year.

A wind turbine lasts about 20 yrs. Therefore over the life of the turbine we can save $ 96,758,181. A real bargain if you take into account that the environmental benefits more than compensate for any operating cost.

Tony Belding

7:24pm | Dec 8, 2006

I must say, I don't understand the objections to leather. That's a renewable resource!

# If you assume a national average mpg of 22 miles per gallon, then we can save :

# 47,304,000 miles / (22 miles/gallon) = 2,150,182 gallons of fuel.

And, given that each 42-gallon barrel of crude yields 19.5 gallons of gasoline, that would mean we would need 110,266 fewer barrels of OPEC oil per year.

Of course, the US uses around 20.5 MILLION barrels every DAY. So it would take quite a few of those turbines to make a dent (365 of them to equal just 0.56% of total domestic usage), even in the amount of oil used for vehicles alone (around 8M barrels, according to my source -- which means that every 365 turbines would handle 1% of vehicular usage). But, Freddy's math suggests that replacement of oil by wind-turbine electricity might be cost effective. In which case, every turbine essentially pays for itself, anyway, allowing a large number of turbines -- each making a tiny difference -- to have a significant positive effect in the aggregate.

I'm still liking the solar farm idea, but any cost-effective green way we can get the juice to charge up our vehicles works for me.

Robert

8:32pm | Dec 8, 2006

I just finished watching the movie "Who Killed The Electric Car?" This is a wake up call for everyone to embrace your fine product and see who is the real people hampering this type of technology.

Your article in Wired Magazine was both educational and impressive.

Thank you for your automotive and electronics coordination breakthrough with the initial automotive product.

In my current position as an Industrial Automation Component Sourcing Specialist, I review many efficient, innovative, and quality products. Not only does your product promote your Automotive Industry Endeavors, but appears to have many potentially signficant industrial applications that could assist in catapulting your ideas further into possible hidden markets and/or compliment your existing product(s).

Please do not allow the Big Automotive or Oil Companies detract you from your signficant persistence and business success.

I look forward to purchasing one of your vehicles in the future.

All my best!!!

Roger L.

8:40pm | Dec 8, 2006

Talking about "a huge untapped market potential" for EV's, I wonder if anyone has seen some real, actual, hard numbers on just what that potential is. That would include all the factors that go into projecting sales figures that you could go to the bank with. Or are we believing what we WANT to believe. I know there is a lot of good, well deserved buzz now. But how many actual buyers will that turn into.

# Andrew wrote on December 6th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
# I was looking into buying one.
# But I’m against leather so is there any chance of any cool recycled content fabrics that could be used
# (i.e. sensuede, which has 54% recycled content[www.sensuede.com/sensuede/p_sensuede.html])?

>> Editor’s comment: We’re been thinking about offering a non-leather option but I don’t have a final answer for you yet.

Yes, I second the request!

All my cars have cloth - I prefer it over leather. I had to prod the Lexus dealer to get my Lexus with all options except to use cloth seats! The dealer said it is probably the only one with limited-slip, moonroof, but no leather. It just breathes better in summer, and feels warmer in winter. Doesn't crack either.

Besides, being a vegetarian, EV owner, and leather shunner go hand in hand.

People in the USA have a fixation with leather in high end luxury cars. You find cloth seats in expensive cars far more frequently in other countries like Australia and France.

Eric

10:33pm | Dec 8, 2006

I know there's already a few comments about this, but I would also love to see Tesla at the NY auto show, and would definitely go to see their display if Tesla was there. I'll still keep my fingers crossed, despite Tesla's current plans not to attend. The east coast is hoping for a glance at this masterpiece soon!

As for the argument of emissions from electricity being produced, I pay a premium to purchase all green power, so when I buy Tesla's sedan, it will truly be zero emissions! :-D

Robert Baldwin

10:34pm | Dec 8, 2006

I am interested in an electric auto for some experaments I am working on. I am working on power supply rather than the auto, but I need a reliable auto to test my power supply on. I am more interested in a large SUV to test with. Would you have a system to power a truck such as an Avalanche?

jeffhre

1:39am | Dec 9, 2006

Great blog. I was able to see the roadster at he LA Auto Show on Wednesday, again awesome job! I wish I had seen it gliding through the hallways under it's own power. Heres a thoght you could sponsor the first ever indoor auto races. Keep up the great work.

Freddy: I like your math on wind power. Wind turbines are far more cost effective than sun power, although solar power is comming down. I don't think solar cells are cheap enough or efficient enough yet to compete with other power sources. I have hopes though, www.rosestreetlabs.com is planning on 48% efficient solar panels by 2010, no idea on price.

Freddy

1:07pm | Dec 9, 2006

Roy, I also like solar power but the problem is, as you pointed out, cost effectiveness. Unfortunately, even with cells that were 48% efficient, solar power would still not be competitive with wind. However, thin film technology promises to change that too. Thin film cells have the potential of beating the 1$ / Watt barrier. When that happens, the only barrier left would be how to make a 50 KW*hr lithium battery pack under 200 Kg, for less than $10,000, able to withstand over 10,000 deep charge/discharge cycles (Altair Nano), low internal resistance so that a cooling system is not needed at high power outputs (say no more than 5% is converted into heat).
When I gave my hypothetical example on the wind turbine, that was meant to be one of the many examples on how to build an infrastructure that can support an all electric car charging system for the nation. As a matter of fact, there are other alternatives that are even more cost effective than wind power!
Take for example the astronomical waste of electricity in the US just to heat water. Many people have switched to gas just to save money even though they are releasing CO2 when they burn gas. Honda went a step further and built a co-generation unit that converts gas into electrical power and the waste heat produced is used to heat water. There is a much more effective, simple, more economical and environmentaly friendly way to accomplish this. Here is how:
Use your AC/Heat pump system to accomplish this. Your AC system "moves" the heat inside your house to the outside by using a relatively small amount of electricity. The temperature of the refrigerant gas just before it enters the radiator unit outside the house is about 200 F. If you had a 250 gallon insulated hot water tank next to the radiator, you can use a very cheap heat exchanger to heat this water, then the refrigerant exits the tank heat exchanger and goes into the radiator. This would actually increase the efficiency of the AC unit. With a unit that operates at 13 SEER (this is how efficiency is measured in the cooling world), you would get, in theory, 13 units of heat for each unit of electricity you put in. In a southern state, you can expect your AC to run about 4 hrs a day. If 13 SEER AC system consumes 3 KW of electricity when operating, you can get up to 39 KW of heating for 4 hours stored into this 250 gallon tank. So we can capture up to:
39 KW * 4 hr * (3600 sec/hr) = 561.6 MJ of heat energy
Now let's see how much energy is required to heat 250 gallons (946 liters) of water from 20 C to 93.33 C (200 F which is the temperature of the refrigerant before it enters the radiator).
(93.33 C - 20 C) * 946 L * 4185 J/(L*C) = 290 MJ
This indicates that the water in the tank will reach 200 F before the 4 hr period. Once the water temperature reaches 200F, the refrigerant will go through the water tank with no temperature change, in short, it's like the water heater is not even there. Now to make my point:
290 MJ * 1 KW*hr / 3.6 MJ = 80.56 KW*hr of which only 6.20 KW*hr came from electricity.
I am well aware, that a family of 5 will never use 250 gallons of 200 F water a day. The point I am trying to make is we have a magnificent free "heat source" that will allow us to heat water (just below boiling point) with evergy that was meant to be rejected to the outside of the house. Even if you only need to capture an average of 30 KW*hr of free heat energy per day, that means you can used the electric energy saved to power a Tesla roadster for up to 150 miles a day. In short, we already produce enough electric energy to support an all electric car economy, we just need to stop the senseless conversion on electricity into low quality heat. Gas water heating can't compete with free water heating. Standard solar water heating are overly complex, and expensive, not to mention unecessary when you can use your entire roof as a free solar collector. Close loop solar heater temperatures go over 212 F and therefore you must have pressure relief valves as well as special coolants.

david_42

2:56pm | Dec 9, 2006

I've driven through the Alta wind farm on many occasions. Very rarely were any of the turbines operating and this is one of the best sites in California. (not just a US problem http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/09/nwind09.xml) There aren't very many places in the USA where wind turbines work, much less pay for themselves. Off-shore wind farms make more sense, but there are too many rich people whining about their views being wrecked. (Nantucket & Buzzard Bay)

Here's another vote for cloth (or non-vinyl, non-leather, anyway). I've never understood the appeal of leather upholstery in an automobile, and I would just as soon not pay for something I don't value, especially if I have to pay top dollar for all the things in the product that I DO value.

As I walked through the city today, breathing in car exhaust, I was reminded of one of the most common criticisms of electric vehicles: Since our power is produced mostly by coal, EVs do not eliminate pollution, they just move it to the powerplant. As I choked on fumes, I thought to myself this:

If all the dreams we have solar powered rooftops do not pan out;

If all the efforts being made to accelerate production of windpower falter;

If nuclear power continues to be mired in red tape for the next century;

If mathmatics fails us, and the pollution generated by burning coal to power our EVs is not half produced by burning gasoline;

As I ingested carbon dioxide from the tailpipe of that Mercedes, I thought to myself what a blessing it would be to move that pollution somewhere else, away from our sidewalks and my lungs. That would be just swell.

Leather is environmentally damaging as the cows used to produce the leather, cows produce huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Methane is a greenhouse gas that cows produce though, yes, farts (as well as from cow dung) and also admit CO2 (that most famous of greenhouse gases) in standard respiration. The Methane is particularly damaging and some studies have shown bovine agriculture do be as damaging to our climate as car transport. Farming cattle is also fairly intensive and this leads to carbon emissions.

It is also environmentally damaging in other environmental ways, livestock farming has caused large amounts of nitrate pollution. Another problem is that in livestock farming (especially with cows) large amounts of waste is produced, sometimes this lead to water contamination. In 1993 it is believed that a contamination of the water supply from cow manure led to the outbreak of Cryptosporidium killing 100 people in Milwaukee. And in 2000 health authorities determined that the most likely cause of 1300 cases of gastroenteritis from which 6 died was cattle manure runoff.

I am a big fan of what Tesla is doing, and I am not a vegetarian (although I eat less meat than most). However I find it a shame that Tesla will not allow its customers to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, especially when an alternative is available.

I feel that Nikola Tesla, a vegetarian, would agree with me.

moses cohen

6:33pm | Dec 9, 2006

i was curious if Tesla Motors had made a decision on the location of it assembly plant

Jeffrey

6:43pm | Dec 9, 2006

I don't know if you guys can answer this or not, but I was curious. Will the WhiteStar sedan have a transmission? Have you considered or plan to consider a transmission-free electric drivetrain? Simple is better! Again, I am fully aware that certain questions cannot be answered, and respect that. Any updates as far as your online shop is concerned? Comeon guys, I want to at least be able to prove I'm a true Tesla fan who doesn't feel like stopping for gasoline anymore. ; - )

I love the concept and the great work you obviously have put into the Tesla electric car. It most certainly is the only electric / fuel efficient car I've seen that can hold it's head against decent sports cars.
Unfortunately as I am from Australia it appears that I won't be putting in an order anytime soon. I do understand the limitations of the current service ability elsewhere but am keenly awaiting expanded export ability.
In the meantime I will have to do my little bit for the environment and sports riding enjoyment through the use of motorbikes. Apart from of course the obvious advantages of driving a 2 seater car as opposed to a 2 seater bike (such as the Ducati 1098S) it might be interesting on your torque / power chart to see how sports motorbikes fit into the equation?
Nonetheless I do hope Tesla can offer this great car to overseas drivers as soon as possible.

Iz

2:28pm | Dec 10, 2006

Just to add my $.02 in. I am a Vegan and the WhiteStar or 3rd Gen would be more alluring if it was available with a non-leather option.

Patrick

5:25pm | Dec 10, 2006

Any thoughts of using a 4-speed paddle shifter in the Roadster?
According to the torque-curve chart, it'd seem that there'd be some benefit to putting an additional gear between first and second then another a the top

I'm no farmer but I am betting that leather is a "by-product" as far as the cattle industry is concerned. i.e. if the skins weren't used it wouldn't make an difference to the number of animals slaughtered per year as the "beef eaters" and "milk drinkers" needs would still have to be met.

That being the case we - and Tesla - might as well use leather (and the bones and horns too for that matter) as in a way it's a form of "thriftiness".

Just a thought.

flabby

8:31pm | Dec 10, 2006

"david_42 wrote on December 9th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
I’ve driven through the Alta wind farm on many occasions. Very rarely were any of the turbines operating and this is one of the best sites in California. (not just a US problem www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/09/nwind09.xml) There aren’t very many places in the USA where wind turbines work, much less pay for themselves. Off-shore wind farms make more sense, but there are too many rich people whining about their views being wrecked. (Nantucket & Buzzard Bay)'\"

I echo david's sentiment about wind power. It's a nice option where it makes practical sence, but there are very few locations in the United States where wind power is a practical solution. This link (eere.energy.gov) is a link to wind resource maps provided by the US department of energy. The maps give a general idea of where wind power is feasible. Solar panels, on the other hand, can be used practically anywhere there is sun, which is practically anywhere.

karl peterson

8:46pm | Dec 10, 2006

if you guys come up with charging stations at a hotel chain, i could stand to drive 500 miles per day (250 in the AM stop for lunch and fill 'er up, then another 250 in the afternoon) when are you going public on the stock market? count me in!

James

9:36pm | Dec 10, 2006

As muz has said, I can't wait for the day Tesla grow to sell Internationally.

I’d rather Tesla continue along to slow and stead growth approach (as they can, considering their product is a ‘disruptive technology’ (which is hilarious given the whole concept it is based upon), so more a ‘disruptive product’) and slowly take over the world, than IPO get bought out by GM, and then killed.

Looking forward to the day I can buy a Tesla in Australia!

Tod G. Collins

11:48pm | Dec 10, 2006

Is there any chance that you will be showing the Roadster at the Portland Auto Show, January 25-28, 2007?

If guys wondering if there is a right hand drive version being looked at for the Down Under Oz market, want to be the first off the blocks with an electric car that rocks. Though seriously, is the rest of the known world in a marketing plan??????

kslays

10:04am | Dec 11, 2006

A non-leather option is a good idea. I prefer cloth for the same reasons TEG pointed out: they are warm in winter and breath better in summer. My parents had leather seats on their Volvo, and I hated it. They would always hurt from being too hot in the summer and got sticky after a while. I would imagine a leather steering wheel would also be bad for someone with sweaty hands. Also, they were freezing in the winter, even in Berkeley, but much more so in the Sierras. Leather in other parts of the car does not wear as well and can be more easily damaged by getting wet or other spills. A modern water-resistant cloth is much better, and as TEG said, is common in luxury European cars.
Thanks for the continued maintenance of the website and blog. It is a great source of entertainment and hope - keep up the good work!

My last car had cloth seats, the current one leather. I can say that a Tesla offered with either covering would be on equal ground. Neither with advantages or disadvanges over the other. Cloth breathes which is nice for sunny top down driving, and leather looks terrific at any spped. It's Tesla's choice of stlyle over substance. Cows be halibuted.

It would be nice if the Roadster's seat heating was augmented with seat cooling as well. What if the seats get the coolant before the batteries?

the other doug

11:27am | Dec 11, 2006

to the vegans out there: if we stop harvesting cows, then where will the cows live? not in my backyard! you are dooming, at least domestic cows, to extinction. if we are to harvest animals then lets do the honourable thing and harvest the entire animal. i love leather seats!

Mark

11:32am | Dec 11, 2006

I've had a lot of cloth and leather seats over the years.

The only leather that I've seen hold up well are Buffalo Hides like I had in my 1985 735i. They were still in great shape at 218,000 miles when I sold that car after owning it for 12 years.

The leather seats in the 1996 Toyota Avalon that I purchased new were ugly and warn by about 100K miles and totally disgusting by 150K miles.

The leather seats in my 1991 miata proved to be fragile and had noticable signs of wear at only 36K miles.

The cloth bucket seats on my current 1994 Ford F150 extended cab are amazing. They look brand spanking new after 12 years and 175K miles. They are a thick durable cloth that is always comfortable in heat or cold without any heating or cooling. I'm not kidding. There is no sign of wear on these seats.

Based on my experiences, seat heating and cooling is unneccessary in the South East US with a properly designed cloth seat.

Leather Seats both burn you in the heat and freeze you in the cold. A seat heater is useful, but doesn't overcome the initial BRRRR when you set in your car that has been freezing in a parking lot for a while. Seat cooling doesn't overcome the initial OUCH on a hot day for the same reason.

So as sexy as leather is, I think that having a durable cloth option for the WhiteStar would be a good idea that many of us would appreciate.

For a sports car, I don't think anything but leather will sell well enough in the US to make having a cloth option cost effective. Once Tesla exports to Europe, it may be cost effective to produce this option.

# the other doug wrote on December 11th, 2006 at 10:27 am
# to the vegans out there: if we stop harvesting cows, then where will the cows live?

huh? It isn't like there is a massive herd of wild cows and we are doing them a service by culling the herd.
If we don't need as many cows in the world, then we just won't breed as many replacements, and we can put the land to other uses.
(as it is now we are clearcutting and burning massive amounts of rainforest to make room for more cow grazing areas)

# Mark wrote on December 11th, 2006 at 10:32 am
# The only leather that I’ve seen hold up well are Buffalo Hides like I had in my 1985 735i.
# The leather seats in the 1996 Toyota Avalon that I purchased new were ugly and warn by about 100K miles and totally disgusting by 150K miles.

I have heard a number of people in recent years say "leather ain't what it used to be".
Comments were made that the tanning process is not as good now as it once was due to cost and the slow phasing out of certain harsh chemicals used to treat the hides.

From waterandwastewater.com:
"Converting raw hides into finished leather requires large amounts of chemicals such as lime, sulfite, caustic, enzymes, salt, and acid. The tanning process also produces large amounts of wastewater that must be treated before being reused or discharged in order to protect the environment and the local water supply from contamination. "

http://ec.europa.eu/research/success/en/ind/0083e.html
"Hides are tanned in order to render them rot-proof and amenable to the cutting treatments which they must subsequently undergo for the manufacture of clothing or other leather goods. The chemical agents traditionally used in this process are chrome-based products and other metal salts and it is these, in fact, which are the source of the serious damage caused to the environment by this industry."

Also, it is more and more common to find cars with a mix of real leather and vinyl.

You should also not use batteries because they have acids that are hard to recycle and contaminate groundwater.
You should not use tires because the vulcanization process uses sulfur which gives noxious oxides to the environment.
You should not use plastics because plastics need organic solvents to be made and organic solvents are flammable and produce smog.
You should not use paint because even environmentally friendly paint will damage livingstock.
You should not use a car because the person washing it will inevitably be mexican and you are just contributing to the whole immigration problem.
You should not live because your fart contains methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas.

I am astonished of what you are doing with the Roadster, it full fills all my ecological dreams since I was 7 years old. I am waiting for the new announced 4 people sedan for my whole family. As soon it will be available I'll buy it instantly.

As a member of the NLF (Nauga Liberation Front), I can assure you that any further exploitation of Naugas will be dealt with in the harshest possible terms. Consider this your only warning.

Joshua Mize

12:40am | Dec 12, 2006

Two words: Electric Pick-Up

T.J.

1:09am | Dec 12, 2006

Wonder if anyone can project what the Korean push into lithium batteries (& others?) will do for cost in 3-4 years? What do the roadster batteries cost-around $20,000? 4 years for sports sedan is a long time,then what- 3 more for family sedan? Maybe the Tesla funding mavens should just count on cheap batteries making family sedan cheaper now & double their cash: build sports sdean & family sedan at same time, in same plant-economies of scale & all that. That would be an impressive move. Who knows what will be out from the big car companies in 7 yrs. Instead of Branson putting $3 billion into alt. fuels, he should have put $1 billion of it into this, no?

GJ

9:12am | Dec 12, 2006

I just want to make clear that i have nothing against Tesla Motors. Indeed I think what they are doing good and important, i am very supportive of their efforts. I just feel that it is a shame, when a lot of a company is based on solving an enviromental problem, that there is not a more enviromentally friendly OPTION available for customers who want a as envriomentally friendly Tesla as possible. Non-leather option or not i still will think Tesla Motors are highly comendable.

Mark

9:34am | Dec 12, 2006

I sort of agree with Lovelock Fan. Solving the worlds problems is not going to happen on this forum.

For example: The clear cutting of forrests for grassing land is probably the largest environmental concern mentioned so far. The problem is that it is not leather production that is driving this. It is our insatiable desire for stake and hamburger. Stop eating beef if you really want to help with that problem.

Trickle Down: Of course if you decide to eat fish instead , then you have to deal with the fact that we are over fishing our oceans and there are a number of doom and gloom reports predicting large sections of the oceans will be nearly dead in the next few decades due to lack of bio diversity.

So that leaves only vegans who recycle heavily, and use only the most earth friendly methods for everything. There may only be a handful of people in the world that live close to that standard.

The final cause is always the same. People are overpopulating the world and at some point there will not be enough resources. China may be the only country that is actually dealing with this issue head on. Unless you want to talk about sterilization, mandated control of child birth and the possibility of a world pandemic to wipe out a large percentage of our population we are still heading down the same path no matter how green we think we are being.

the other doug

10:49am | Dec 12, 2006

TEG: thats my point, there are no wild herds of holsteins, angus or guernseys, they only exist on farms. if the vegans had their way then there would be zero use for them. as far as clear cutting rainforests, your right! i still love leather seats and i can't wait to get my grubby steak eating hands on one of these marvelous, properly appointed, tesla roadsters. go tesla!

kslays

11:58am | Dec 12, 2006

What's allthisbuzz about the Roadster being ticketed for speeding? Having a little too much fun on the San Carlos back roads, eh? Not that I wouldn't be doing the same thing if I had a prototype on hand ;)

Piergiorgio

2:57pm | Dec 12, 2006

Thank you guys for your great work. I hope to see as soon as possible your cars sold in Europe too.
Now we "just" have to produce the elecricity to power our Teslas in a clean and renewable way....
Might be that the people here below have the right answer:

They won the WREC (World Renewable Energy Council) 2006 award and looks that EU gave to them 17 Mil.€ to build a 2 Mw test plant.
A mobile prototipe is already working. You can see the movie and tech details on their site.
Also, their paper “Control of tethered airfoils for a new class of wind energy generator” is going to be presented at the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, San Diego, California - December 13-15, 2006

# Lovelock Fan wrote on December 11th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
## Forget about leather being bad for the environment.
## You should also not use batteries ...
## You should not use tires because ...
## You should not use paint because ..
## ...etc...

You have to start somewhere.
For instance,
They took lead out of paint and gasoline.
They stopped using asbestos in insulation and brake pads.
They stopped using freon CFCs in A/C systems.

Iz wrote: "I am a Vegan and the WhiteStar or 3rd Gen would be more alluring if it was available with a non-leather option."
I've got some disturbing news for you. Your life is a hypocricy! Paint is made from animal products. Probably about half of the products you use on a daily basis are the result (at least in part) of some animal getting slaughtered. It's ok to try and reduce the number of animals that die on your behalf, but don't be so pretentious as to think that animals aren't still dying for your comfort simply because you aren't sitting in a leather seat.

Mark Tebbutt

4:25pm | Dec 12, 2006

I was wondering if it is purely the Homologation costs that is keeping Tesla from selling the roaster in the UK / Europe?

If so I might lobby my local UK MP (member of Parliament) and MEP (member of the European Parliament) to provide some form of subsidy towards Homologation costs for Zero Emission vehicles. Well I can't be seen to be too biased towards Tesla :-). I suspect it will be an uphill battle but I did manage to persuade British Telecomm to provide broadband to my community 18 months early in my last campaign.

# Mark wrote on December 12th, 2006 at 8:34 am
# People are overpopulating the world and at some point there will not be enough resources.
# China may be the only country that is actually dealing with this issue head on. Unless you
# want to talk about sterilization, mandated control of child birth and the possibility of a world
# pandemic to wipe out a large percentage of our population we are still heading down the
# same path no matter how green we think we are being.

Hint: Keep in mind the other current business of Tesla investor and chariman Elon Musk. There are many paths out of the dark future to which you allude. Musk seems to be attempting to clear one of them.

Raymond Michiels

12:20am | Dec 13, 2006

To Mark Tebutt, who wondered why Tesla doesn't sell the roadster in Europe:

I don't think homologation costs are keeping Tesla from going to (staying in?) Europe. Living in The Netherlands I could simply buy a Tesla in California (and to satisfy Tesla pretend I live there); export the Roadster to the Netherlands, and spend a day with our department of motor vehicles to get official road-approval.

However, I would be stuck with a Roadster without any support until, say, 2009 when Tesla does come to Europe. (Well, I can't think of a better way to be stuck...) I don't think Tesla wants its cars to be out there where they cannot provide proper service.

PS to Tesla: Of course I would *never* do this. Really. Please forget all about me...

T.J.

2:05am | Dec 13, 2006

Piergiorgio & kitewindgenerator: this was idea of Hermann Oberth, mentor to Werner Von Braun, in the '30's or '40's, I think- except he was going to use ballons to send wind generators up into the jetstream, instead of kites.But aside from that, I think Tesla should raise an extra $1 billion and launch the Volkstesla Project, with plants on all continents-except Antarctica.The Volkstesla will recall Henry Ford: "you can have any color (or is it car?) you want-as long as it's green "(und you vill like it). Soon, like rabbits of the auto world, Volksteslas will carpet the planet's highways!

# the other doug wrote on December 12th, 2006 at 9:49 am
# TEG: thats my point, there are no wild herds of holsteins, angus or guernseys, they only exist on farms. if the vegans had their way then there would be zero use for them.

I am a vegetarian not because I love cows.
I think there are too many holsteins/angus/guernseys in the world, and it would be fine by me if we let their numbers shrink dramatically.
Even if everyone stopped eating them, I doubt there is any danger of them going extinct. Someone would still raise them. Some zoo would still keep them.
In any case, many of those cows raised for food live a sad life and I find the argument that we need to keep eating them so they have a purpose in the world to be very weak.

# reality wrote on December 12th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
## Iz wrote: “I am a Vegan and the WhiteStar or 3rd Gen would be more alluring if it was available with a non-leather option.”
# I’ve got some disturbing news for you. Your life is a hypocrisy! Paint is made from animal products.

Conservation and "cruelty free" shopping isn't an all or nothing proposition. Some people want to do what they can to help even if their life is still filled with wasteful and polluting consumption.
Tesla may have gone a little overboard with their "zero guilt" catch phrase, but still an all electric car is definitely heading in the right direction. Tesla will sell some vehicles to those trying to help preserve the environment.

Some people hang on to a concept of "freedom to pollute". There is a valid argument that it is harder for a "green business" to compete if your competition is willing to use less expensive processes that pollute more.
If you believe that the planet will stay healthier longer by reducing pollution then you need to vote with your $ by favoring products that pollute less.
Are you willing to pay more for organic produce because it is healthier and has less negative impact on the environment? Would you favor products listed as being made from recycled materials?

Again, my vote for a non-leather seating option is not to save cows, but because I just don't like leather as a seating material.

Now we are debating the risks involved with other substances, and trying to decide if restrictions are appropriate on things like:

GMOs
bST
...etc...

Be an informed consumer and buy products that are part of the solution.
Don't wait for the government to finally get around to protecting us.
Getting away from gasoline is good for many reasons.

"Live for today" and "don't worry about tomorrow" are bad ideas, particularly for our children to inherit.

Although Tesla is in an industry that is a real part of the problem, they are trying to provide better options than what other companies are offering.

Sorry about the rant, but some of the other bloggers got me going with their "don't even think about being smug about your choices" mindset. You can feel good about doing your part even if it isn't the total solution.

Nate33

2:04pm | Dec 13, 2006

# The final cause is always the same. People are overpopulating the world and at some point there will not be enough resources. China may be the only country that is actually dealing with this issue head on.

[comment moderated]
America is doing a much better job with population control than the Chinese. Look at the population growths of each country for cryin' out loud! Take away immigration and the U.S. would be experiencing a population decline.

What's America's secret? Freedom and capitalism. It has led to a technologically based society that doesn't require huge families to tend the crops. The U.S. is basically the only major country that has managed to stop population growth cold long before running out of useful land.

Edtior, why do I have a comment from December 9th still awaiting moderation?

---

Editor's response:

We sincerely apologize for the delay. Your comment is live, and we've also included a couple of links to pages you might find interesting.

RogerM

2:36pm | Dec 13, 2006

Your success is wholly deserved, and a timely come-uppance for the majors who are stuck in a twentieth- (nineteenth-, even) century socioeconomic .

Now here's a serious tip. I live in London, England. Here is some context you may wish to note:
1 London now promotes ZEVs by discounting all local taxes, all national vehicle taxes, and all parking charges. As a central London commuter, by buying an electric car (more on this later) I have already saved more than UK£2000 (that's about US$4000) in 7 months.
2 There is only one domestic all-electric vehicle currently available for sale in the UK, the Reva, manufactured in India and imported through a single UK concession. There are about 500 Revas on the streets of London, nearly all of which arrived since the tax concessions were introduced six months ago. At around £8000 (S16000) a pop, that's quite a market already. The Reva is a great, if eccentric, little sub-mini urban runaround but has limited range and somewhat, erm, idiosyncratic styling. There's basically no competition worth noting, and a wide-open field for a more stylish up-market offering.
3 As a global financial centre, London this month (December 2006) will see the creation of more than 4000 new UK£ sterling millionaires (US$ double-millionaires) via year-end pay bonuses to London-based financial industry executives. That's just this month. Luxury and cutting-edge tech products are very popular in this market. Also a lot of these people prefer to drive to work.
4 Many London Councils are rolling out on-street and in-car-park electric charging points (one was just conveniently put up on the sidewalk right outside my office, this very week).
5 The UK continues to have some of the highest fuel taxes in the whole world. If Americans think $2 a gallon is a lot to pay for gas, we pay nearer the equivalent of $10 a gallon, most of which goes to Her Majesty's Government. So there's a strong incentive to alternative fuels even without electric traction (and quite a few companies doing well from LPG conversions etc already.)
6 The Al Gore film was very well received here. The government, and people generally, are talking a lot about carbon neutrality and looking for low-emission / energy-efficient products.
7 The Mayor of London, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and various eco-warrior groups have variously declared a policy war on urban RVs. This is leaving a lot of high-net-worth people looking around for something "green" but stylish to replace their old cars with. The default choice is the Prius but many people now realise that its green credentials are not quite as solid as its marketing implies. So alternative alternatives (!) are wanted but not yet found.

The message is clear: The UK, and London in particular, is a HOT potential market for Tesla at the moment. Come on, let's see Tesla here! Make it happen!! Meanwhile, congratulations anyway!

PS You also just won "Green Car of the Year" in one of our national newspapers - don't know if your PR people read anything this far afield...

Dr Stupid

5:04pm | Dec 13, 2006

It may only be hot air.... but iam thinking about producing eco gas! .....
any farmers on with 100,000sqf+ worth of spare sheds?
Lets feed a 10000+ cattle....grass one end......fartmethane catchers the other!!

[may prove more expensive than bio mass ...what with the vet bills etc...rent might be a killer :( Fartmethane $4 per litre? any old farts interested?!!

Tesla gonna do a LPG version to widen the eco range?!!!
Tesla should offer solar trickle chargers as standard???
Will the sun roof and bonnet be replaced with a profiled solar panel?

just installed 15 year old Recaro ltd ed seats in my classic ...opps sorry guys
yep they look good not your typical Halibut..cod...Roe...tuna..etc

Dr Stupid

5:21pm | Dec 13, 2006

America will never be eco... unless you have a peoples eco revolution to make the corporates serve the people ....not the people serve the corporates....
as it is the corporates who fund the politicians and the politicians appease the corporates first and the voters last????

Make TAX payers pay for politicians?...... pay for elections on a restricted budget...its the only way to get us back to being truely democratic??

Why the donaldduck / halibut / cod... doesnt Bill Gates buy out the logging companies in the amazonian rainforest and cease production and make the indians the keepers of the forests?...and give the deeds to the UN to hold as an area of worldwide scientific interest.?..as many cures for illness he is fund raising for are held in this very forest!!

Make the $38 billion we gave him do some real good for us all?
i emailed him to stop wasting time with TB charities! and get with the real picture
... it would significantly reduce 3rd world poverty thro reduced droughts famine poor harvests etc etc famine attracts diease etc etc...and hey less twisters in the US?

Pls mail Bill gates with this to push him to do some real eco / poverty good now hes bored with his money!.........halibutcodplaice

Steve

7:26pm | Dec 13, 2006

First exploding batteries and Eestor, now leather seats? Seriously, there is zero environmental impact caused by leather. A cow dies, yes. And that cow probably had a terrible life. But what about PEOPLE? Why are we more concerned with leather than with the soldiers and Iraqis dying every day for the vehemently denied but patently obvious reason this administration went to war? Being vegan is all well and good, and it's much healthier a diet than what Americans today eat, but death is a part of life. If you really feel that much guilt about causing death, move to Africa and do some subsistence farming. Every one of us causes numerous deaths (human and animal) each day indirectly just by being American.

This car is a major step forward. But it's just the beginning. After that, we have to get electric cars on the mass market, and somebody has to show up and compete with Tesla at some point. Then industrial hemp needs to be legalized, which will eliminate most or all major synthetic products (petrochemicals including plastics, textiles, paper, building materials) by being vastly cheaper, fully renewable, domestically produced, and 100% green. Too bad Arnie is full of it, because he vetoed that bill this year, so don't get an amazing impression of his environmentalism just because he likes a sports car that happens to be green.

Eric

8:47pm | Dec 13, 2006

I wanted to make a few comments regarding the views towards leather use... In short, the use of leather does not have a very big impact on the environment. To the contrary, a very LARGE environmental impact comes from the raising of cows for meat.

The environmental effects are numerous: Methane, chemicals, runoff to lakes/streams, carbon dioxide, etc. There's a good book I read titled, "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists" The book basically puts into perspective what people should worry about today to make the largest positive impact environmentally, and what not to worry so much about (like leather production, for example).

The book clearly details how the raising of cows for meat production is one of the worst sources of pollution from food practices. And in case you didn't guess, automobiles are pretty high on a different list.

We could pick away at many subtle points such as leather interior and the implications, but the goal should be to focus on the big problem first, and tackle the smaller ones later. It seems that Tesla has the right mindset with regards to this point.

So what are the other big things to worry about environmentally speaking? Read the book, it's very insightful and politically impartial.

Mark

11:59am | Dec 14, 2006

"Hint: Keep in mind the other current business of Tesla investor and chariman Elon Musk. There are many paths out of the dark future to which you allude. Musk seems to be attempting to clear one of them."

So the answer is shipping people off to Mars ?

Had it occurred to you that if we can create a biosphere that can sustain life independently of the Earth all the way on Mars that we might be able to do the same thing here?

If we get to the point where we can create any element that we want in a near vacuum of the resources we are used to consuming here, then the resource issue becomes moot.

I have no problem with space colonies and space exploration, but I don't think that we should have manifest destiny to consume the Universe. Do you?

Mike, just wanted to thank you for answering the questions about vehicle efficiency at the SF Autoshow.

To recap, you estimated 88% vehicle efficiency and 90% battery efficiency. Even though you're not an engineer, you did a great job providing technical customer service. That's what really matters if you guys want to cross the chasm.

Congratulations on stealing the hearts of San Franciscans!

Jim

1:01am | Jan 3, 2007

It is amazing how no good deed goes unpunished. Someone complaining about leather seats? Don't buy them then... There is practical and then there are fantasy solutions to environmental problems balanced with forward progress of man. First, we are an omnivorous species - note the forward facing eyes, canine & cutting teeth and ability to digest animal fats. Second, using the hides of slaughtered food animals is making better use of them, as did the Plains AmerInds with respect to how they consumed their game animals. If you want to eat grass, be my guest. I'll take mine with a steak...

Taking a car and technology that will help mitigate the environmental impact of our transportation needs in the future is a great step. Doing so in a market savvy manner increases the chances of success. If every enviro-nut had their way the market on such things would always be small because of the ridiculous amount of strictures put on the production of any type of consumer goods (yeah, enviro-nut - there is reasonable and unreasonable approaches to preserving the environment, just like the difference between due caution and paranoia). Bring on the leather seats; it goes right in tune with the racecar body and performance that makes the car [i]desirable[i] vs the vast bulk of the (little) competition out there in the EV market.

Funny that we see a similar dichotomy in the power generation industry. First understand there is a need for Gigawatts of power, massive amounts for industry and private usage. We can't (and won’t) pull the plug on that, so the power is needed *right now* to continue our existence and progress. Experiments in pulling the plug which someone would surely try to justify have resulted in numerous loss of life situations (ie the blackout in the east a few years back) - its not going to happen so get used to it.
-Hydro is great, its damn near free once the dam is up, and doesn't pollute - oh but some fish & sand bars downstream might suffer. Enter the pack of buffoons picketing the proposed project. So much for free, non-polluting energy. And there is only so much water flowing at a given amount of elevation drop to create power with and that is not enough to fill the demand.
-Solar is a good one, however it’s sporadic in nature, not as efficient the higher latitude you go and believe it or not, there is a large amount of chemical waste pollutants produced in production of the panels. Which also, production of quality panels is a bottleneck that will make any true mass reliance on solar decades in the future. It is a good solution for private homeowners though, and the real estate on your roof is not likely used for much else. Look for the protesters at the chemical plant and not the place where the panels are placed so at least you are safe putting them on your home...
-Wind power is another good one, no pollution to speak of other than in the production of the rig and lubricants for operation. But, some silly halibut will go sit up on one of those things for a year or more in protest of the birds that get whacked out of the park flying into the rotating blades. Never mind that raptors flying around high voltage lines account for numerous grass fires annually when they close the arc between the lines while flying between them - much to the detriment of the bird... Reliability of wind power is sketchy, there are only so many places where you have steady winds blowing in the range of operation for the turbines and most of those aren't constant either. Not to mention, its probably "spoiling" some rare mouse's habitat by putting it there. Bring on the cat...
-Geothermal seems like a good source, and if you are in Iceland you already get your power there. But, it requires a hot spot fairly close to the earth's surface, it requires drilling, water table pollution and the corrosive nature of the water sent into volcanic rock means some maintenance issues with reliability. Did I mention most such volcanic hotspots are often in National Parks (Yellowstone etc) and pristine wilderness areas that someone will protest when you start sending the machines in to put this in place?
-Tidal generation is another "freebie" at first glance ("whale tail" on a cam that turns a wheel by capturing wave motion). But you have the issue of cluttering beaches with the generating rigs, and the corrosion issue of salt water reducing the reliability again over any long-term use. I am not aware of anyone yet using this type in mass commercial use, and due to the impact on the coastline where it might be placed, a legion of hippies and surfers blocking any attempt to do so.

So far, none of those solutions, while they have less environmental impact than combustion/thermal generation, are capable of mass generation in the near future. And the blanket issue I left out was the NIMBY's (Not In My Back Yard) - its not the environment they are concerned with, its their view, their property value etc that might be affected by having an industrial facility erected near their house. A solar farm or wind farm has to be vast to even make moderate generation to even begin to think about decommissioning a 24/7 coal plant that cranks out 500Mwatts.

That pretty much leaves us stuck with coal, gas or nuclear power for bulk generation for a few dozen years to come. While I don't advocate additional combustion plants (we are getting them anyway), the only option left to make bulk power quickly (and actually cleanly) is nuclear power. But the protesters lining up to wave their signs helps ensure that we keep several coal fired stations in use belching carbon rather than replace them with a nuclear plant that has just about the least impact per megawatt of any practical option we have available.

NIMBY's & nut jobs will never be happy. Masses of people behave closer to the least common denominator, get enough people, they act stupidly. We need power, a lot of it. Most of the people doing the protesting make a lot of noise, but they have no solutions. Back around to carping about leather seats - lots of noise, no solution. Leather seats are a luxury option that helps sell cars.

As to why doesn't Tesla make a LPG or HEV/PHEV? I think that subverts the point of making the car in the first place, GM et al will waste plenty of industry on those types of vehicles in the years to come, kudos to Tesla Motors for cutting to the chase. Why don't they sell in Europe? They are building their business in a manageable fashion ground up, I wager most people outside California are SOL for a while as well, not to mention those unable to foist the price at this time.

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Editor's comment: Just to clarify, Tesla Motors is reserving cars for those who live in the contiguous United States. See our FAQ page.

Luke

3:28pm | Jan 6, 2007

"Why are we more concerned with leather than with the soldiers and Iraqis dying every day for the vehemently denied but patently obvious reason this administration went to war?"

>> Nobody said they were more concerned about leather than people dying in Iraq. But if you're suggesting that we shouldn't be concerned about leather while there are people dying in Iraq, then by extension, we shouldn't care about homeless kids on the streets because there are people dying horribly of cancer.

I do agree with your sentiment towards the dying soldiers and Iraqis. But I'm hearing a general theme from a few people of being so overwhelmed by so many issues that instead the solution is to look no further than your front door step and care about nothing outside of yourself.

"Every one of us causes numerous deaths (human and animal) each day indirectly just by being American."

The only way to subside our destruction is to choose what we care about. But definitely to still care about something outside of ourselves. Voting with your wallet is the only way new opportunities arise. So I agree with our vegan friend above. And I've been shopping for a non-leather sports car too.

Tomas

10:30pm | Apr 14, 2007

The car looks impresive and has a good top speed. My question is why you sell the car only inside the US? There are plans about it?

Shanny

11:36am | May 15, 2007

When will be in the stock market? There is a lot of us investors that would like to be a part of this one.